Mortise and tenon joints and dowel joints are universally agreed to be stronger and thus more desirable than straight glue joints. In the past skilled craftsmen have been able to construct these joints accurately even using hand tools. However, most persons who desire to fabricate furniture and other structures from wood lack the skill and/or experience to make accurate mortise and/or dowel joints, and therefore, end up with an inferior joint or are required to perform an extraordinary amount of finish work to result in a satisfactory product.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,800,840, granted to McCord Jr. On Apr. 2, 1974, discloses a fixture for using a router to simultaneously cut interlocking dovetails.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,407,344, granted to Dicke on Oct. 4, 1983, discloses a dovetail fixture for simultaneously doing interlocking mortise and tenon to form the dovetail corner joint.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,428,407, granted to Grisley on Jan. 31, 1984, discloses a dovetailing jig wherein the common joint members are cut along one edge of the jig support and the complementary joint members are cut along the other edge.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,603,717, granted to Thomas on Aug. 5, 1986, discloses a sliding dovetail template and the template can be used for cutting the sliding dovetail tongues and grooves on wooden workpieces of different thicknesses and sizes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,809,755, granted to Pontikas on Mar. 7, 1989, discloses an apparatus and method for forming a variety of woodworking joints wherein the workpiece is clamped to a support member having a template and then the entire apparatus is moved over an inverted router which is mounted beneath the work station to make the matching element.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,507, granted to Hanks on Oct. 30, 1990, discloses a basically rectangular open, centered base plate member to which is secured adjustable clamp mechanisms perpendicular to each other and vertically spaced such that they can clamp pieces for various cutting operations.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,454, granted to Meinhardt on Oct. 1, 1991, discloses a system for routers including a base upon which the piece is clamped and a frame-like element which overlies the workpiece into which a variety of shaped guides may be placed, allowing the operator to generate a string of characters.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,114,265, granted to Grisley on May 19, 1992, discloses a template used in conjunction with a router to manufacture an interlocking joint.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,389, granted to Goodwin on Apr. 20, 1993, discloses an apparatus for use with a router and includes a mechanical router positioning mechanism which prevents inadvertent movement of the router.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,831, granted to Woolgar on Feb. 15, 1994, discloses an apparatus for making a plurality of parallel dado cuts.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,899, granted to Kochling on Jul. 5, 1994, discloses a router fixture which comprises a base and a pair of slidably adjustable horizontal guides which capture a precut template which then guides the router itself.